Friday, January 24, 2020

US Single Family Housing Starts Up


Housing starts in the US jumped 16.9 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.608 million units in December 2019, the highest level since December 2006. It was also the largest gain since October 2016 and followed a revised 2.6 percent rise in November. Single-family home-building climbed 11.2 percent to 1.055 million units, the highest since June 2007.  

Starts for the volatile multi-family housing segment surged 29.8 percent to 553 thousand units. Housing starts rose across all regions: the South (9.3 percent to 810 thousand); West (19.8 percent to 411 thousand); Midwest (37.3 percent to 254 thousand); and Northeast (25.5 percent to 133 thousand). Considering 2019 full year, housing starts were up 3.2 percent to an estimated 1.290 million units. Housing Starts in the United States averaged 1429.59 Thousand units from 1959 until 2019, reaching an all-time high of 2494 Thousand units in January of 1972 and a record low of 478 Thousand units in April of 2009.


The Median (50th %ile) Price of a Single Family Home.
June 1963 $17,200.
June 1970 $23,800
June 1980 $64.900
June 1990 $125,000
June 2000 $160.100
June 2010 $219,500
June 2019 $311,800

US Mortgage 30 Year Fixed Interest Rate
Jan 2015  3.66%
Jan 2016  3.97%
Jan 2017  4.20%
Jan 2018  3.95%
Jan 2019  4.51%
Jan 2020  3.72%

Single Family Home Ownership expands family wealth and is the most important purchase a family can make, because these homes appreciate in value and can be paid off completely in 15 years. Home mortgages are typically $1500 per month or $18,000 per year or $270,000 over 15 years. Once mortgages are paid off, families can remove this cost from their annual budgets.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

No comments: